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Backward-motion control of a mobile robot with n passive off-hooked trailers

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Abstract

A passive multiple-trailer system provides various practical advantages for multi-functional service robots. However, motion control is difficult because the kinematic model is highly nonlinear. The kinematic design of a trailer system was proposed in prior research of ours. In this paper, it is shown how the backward motion of a robot with n passive trailers can be controlled. Once the desired trajectory of the last trailer is computed, the control input of the pushing robot is obtained through the proposed control scheme. Some experimental issues on reversing the trailer system are addressed. This paper provides an answer to the following question: “Does the system work well even if there are sensing or modeling errors?” Although it is difficult to obtain general analytic solutions for the above research question, a practical answer will be explored though simplified analysis and experiments. Experimental verifications are carried out using a mobile robot with three passive trailers. The experimental results show that backward-motion control can be successfully carried out by applying the proposed control scheme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 136-701, Korea

    Woojin Chung, Kwanghyun Yoo & Jae Il Roh

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M university, Texas, 77840, USA

    Myoungkuk Park

  3. Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, 136-791, Korea

    Jongsuk Choi

Authors
  1. Woojin Chung
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  2. Myoungkuk Park
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  3. Kwanghyun Yoo
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  4. Jae Il Roh
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  5. Jongsuk Choi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Woojin Chung.

Additional information

This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor Kyongsu

Woojin Chung received the B.S. degree from the Department of Mechanical Design and Production Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 1993 and the M.S. and Ph.D degrees from the Department of Mechano-Informatics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, in 1995 and 1998, respectively. From 1998 to 2005, he was a Senior Research Scientist with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. Since 2005, he has been with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul. His research interests include the design and control of nonholonomic underactuated mechanical systems, trailer system design and control, and mobile robot navigation. Dr. Chung received an Excellent Paper Award from the Robotics Society of Japan in 1996 and the King-sun Fu Memorial Best Transactions Paper Award from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society in 2002.

Myoungkuk Park received B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kyunghee University in 2002 and M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Korea University in 2004. He is currently a graduate student pursuing Ph.D degree of mechanical engineering department at Texas A&M university, U.S.. His research interests are control systems, robotics, optimal controls and large scale stochastic dynamic programs.

Kwanghyun Yoo received B.S. and M.S. from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea, in 2008 and 2010, respectively. In 2010, he joined the Hyundai Steel Company as a Technical Research Personnel. His research interests are mobile robot navigation and localization, trailer system design and control. Jae Il Roh received B.S. and M.S from Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea, in 2009 and 2011, respectively. In 2011, he joined the INUS Technology as a Technical Research Personnel. His research interests are mobile robot navigation and localization, trailer system control.

Jongsuk Choi received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 1994, 1996, and 2001. In 2001, he joined the Intelligent Robotics Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul Korea as a Research Scientist, and now is a Principal Research Scientist at Bio-medical Research Institute, KIST. His research interests include signal processing, human-robot interaction, mobile robot navigation and localization.

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Chung, W., Park, M., Yoo, K. et al. Backward-motion control of a mobile robot with n passive off-hooked trailers. J Mech Sci Technol 25, 2895–2905 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-011-0909-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-011-0909-7

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